“Community” or 12,000 bee’s…

“The bee is a symbol of the sun, the Goddess, celebration, and community. Bees are also the symbol for accomplishing the impossible. The bee reminds us that no matter how great the dream there is the promise of fulfillment if we pursue it.”

A few years back I met Sara Mapelli Tink, and incredible woman, artist, and advocate in bringing awareness to the importance of Honey Bee’s. We decided it would be absolutely amazing to be able to photograph for this series of images her covered in bee’s. And so at the end of the summer of 2013 she coordinated a film she was going to be working on as well as myself to be part of this beautiful dance. We did try and see if it might work with a few of the bee’s she had at home, but quickly realized it wouldn’t….For the final image the queen bee is on a necklace on her chest, and all the other bee’s are gathering around her body slowly in the span of a couple of hours creating a blouse/shield.

Here’s an image of Sara standing in front of the backdrop I’ve been using for this series with the bee’s forming a shield/blouse after a couple of hours of her dancing with them.

This is an image where we can see more of Sara with the bee’s and the beautiful bee crown she is wearing too. The last image was one we attempted earlier on in the summer, when it was still too cold. It didn’t work at all, but I show you this so you can see that it takes sometimes a few times to get it just right!